Egg Care

Egg Care

Taking good care of your eggs is as vital as having a long list of profitable client base and funds to do the business.

Room temperature  - Make sure the room temperature is normal. : First and foremost, the room temperature of where these eggs are kept matters most. If for any reason your storage facility experiences combined higher or lower temperature regularly, you are prone to high risk. Eggs being a living thing and detached from the hen that naturally takes care of it, its exposure to either extreme temperature quite often is a fast route to its decay. This is why many farms do move their eggs across long distances either early in the morning or late in the evening.

Avoid putting your eggs in a locked container : Egg do breathe. When they are enclosed in containers that shuts off regular flow of oxygen, the inner cells begins to die. Containers used to store eggs in normal facilities must have space for adequate air circulation.

Contact with water: Eggs have nothing to do with water. Water is like an acid to the egg. Most eggs that have had contact with water, if not well refrigerated may not last more than 21 days on the shelf.

However, there are needs that makes it necessary for eggs to get in contact with liquids. The most reoccurring is when a unit in a crate cracks, allowing its liquid to touch others in the crate and those stacked below it. When such happens, what could be the remedy? Simply, get a clean towel and dry the said egg or eggs. It is advisable to consume those that have come in contact with water first.

As an egg distributor, you must do your possible best not to allow your eggs to get in contact with water. The egg shells are naturally porous thus when it comes in contact with water, chances are that it may find its way into the main membrane of the egg.

With the water having its way into the eggs, it comes with some bacteria. The bacteria for sure will work on decomposing them. Washing of the eggs with water removes the bloom, the outer protective unseen cover of the egg.

How do you confirm that eggs from a given farm is of a fair quality on face value? Just picked one at random from a crate and break it in a large size flat tray. The good quality ones will have its York standing alone while the albumen will be on the background. On the opposite, the bad ones will see the York and the albumen mix freely.

This question is regularly asked – how do you know that eggs are bad via mere physical observation? There are few ideas that can be relied on, they include:-

·         Look out for maggots and small flies hovering on any of the eggs in a crate. Their presence suggests that they must be enjoying some secretion from the egg.

·         Fresh eggs have a ‘’sharp’’ color. Once the colors are getting dim or dirty to the eyes, it is likely that such group of eggs must have stayed for some days without being sold. The buyer must be at alert.

·         When you visit any facility housing eggs and there is a kind of foul smell in the room, chances are that many of the eggs there are already rotten. In Nigeria, it is not uncommon to visit some bulk sellers shop and witness incense or mosquito killer smell. Such is a subtle decoy to hide the smell of rotten eggs.

·         You can also pick out an egg at random from a crate when you are not satisfied with its status. Hold it nearer to your ear and shake it with care. If it offers you a sound as water in an ordinary keg, then it is unwholesome for consumption.

Very important in egg care is how you transport them. You need to be careful the way they are stacked in a vehicle. They must be held closely and spaces remaining by the sides must be filled up with soft materials. Failure to do so, chances are that as your vehicle accelerates, the content may shift positions and consequently crack.

Kingsley Chinaemerem Igwenazor - Business Development Expert.